The present invention relates generally to a steering wheel assembly having both an airbag and a horn switch in the center of such an assembly.
Traditionally, automobile horns switches have been located in the center of steering wheels. However because the most effective location for an airbag is also in the center of the steering wheel, horn switches have been reduced in size and have been moved to locations remote from the center of the steering wheel. Thus it is viewed as desirable to have both a horn switch and an airbag assembly in the center of the steering wheel, both for convenience and to enable a driver to quickly and certainly activate the horn.
It would also be desirable to provide a horn activation system which is easily used, and which does not depend upon as precisely located applications of pressure as currently available horn activation systems require, when used with an airbag system, and which is not subject to activation by the assembly itself due to ambient temperature and pressure changes in the automobile.